…APC Chair impeached, caretaker formed by
pro-Fayemi group
Protest has rocked the secretariat of the All
Progressives Congress(APC) in Ekiti State as those sympathetic to the cause of
former state Governor, Kayode Fayemi, besieged the party’s office to register
their disapproval over the conduct of the members of the State Working Committee
(SWC).
The protesters, who brandished placards with
various inscriptions, also passed a vote of no confidence on the State Chairman
of the party, Chief Jide Awe, and party spokesman, Hon. Taiwo Olatunbosun , for
allegedly supporting one of the aspirants in the race.
The protest was staged under the auspices of
Concerned APC stakeholders, comprising mostly delegates and party leaders from
the local government and ward levels.
They accused Awe of working in cahoots with the
state Governor, Ayodele Fayose, to destabilise the party ahead of July 14
governorship election, and that he had been offered the sum of N75 million to carry out the sinister job.
Relying on Article 21 (7) of the party’s
constitution, they disbanded the SWC,
and set up a Caretaker Committee, headed by the APC Chairman in Ise/Orun
Council, Mr. Michael Eegunjobi .
To confirm that the crisis elicited by the botched
May 5 governorship primary has snowballed into a full scale war, the protesters
allegedly laced the gate of the party located in Ajilosun area of the state
capital with fetish material made of
palm oil and eggs.
The beleaguered party chairman, Awe, narrowly
escaped being killed by irate party members, and was said to have been ferried
out of the secretariat by mobile policemen.
As of the time of filing this report, police vans
have been stationed at the secretariat while the one-storey building was under
lock and key.
Coordinator of the group, Adeoye Aribasoye, said:
“We are concerned APC members in Ekiti State. We had it on good authority that
the peaceful election held last Saturday would have been successful, but for alleged
connivance between our party chairman and Fayose.
"The election could have been adjudged the
best in the state and Nigeria at large.
“We are hereby passing a vote of no confidence in
Awe and SWC members
for taking sides. It was Awe and Olatunbosun who allowed those
thugs to enter the venue and disrupt the poll.
“The same Awe is now going around to say the
election should be cancelled. He even met with Governor of Nasarawa State,
Tanko Almakura, and APC National Vice Chairman, Southwest, Pius Akinyelure,
last Sunday to ask for consensus in favour of Segun Oni.
“It is against the tenets of democracy and APC
statute for SWC to display open bias. As a result of this, we held a congress
today where it was agreed that a caretaker committee to be led by Hon Kayode Eegunjobi
as Chairman and Michael Akinleye as Secretary be set up.”
When asked whether the congress has the power to remove a state SWC members, Aribasoye
retorted: “Anybody can convene the congress and it is the most powerful organ
of the party, so our decision is binding on the party,” he maintained.
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